http://www.stfx.ca/media/publications/news@stfx/03-15-06-news@stfx.pdf
A Good Friend Indeed!
It’s a Valentine’s Day Dr. Michael Steinitz will probably not soon
forget.
Standing in a crowd of faculty and staff gathered for a cross-campus
social
event, the StFX physics professor
learned he’d been chosen as this year’s Good Friendship Award recipient.
“I was surprised, somewhat embarrassed, and very humbled,” a modest Dr.
Steinitz
said in the days after receiving the honour.
The award, now in its second year, is designed to recognize outreach
efforts of
individuals on campus, particularly those who give beyond what’s
expected.
Dr. Steinitz has certainly been active in his 33 years at StFX. He
helped found
Debut Atlantic 27 years ago, and has run the StFX Performing Arts
Series for
the
past 29 years.
He and his wife Heidi, StFX’s former
international
student advisor and financial aid officer, have been true friends to
the school’s
international student population.
Heidi’s work association brought the couple close to students with
financial
and other problems. Some received forms of help, while others have
lived with
the Steinitz family for various lengths of time. “They enriched our
lives
immeasurably, and we got an immense amount out of the relationships and
friendships that we formed, that have lasted for many, many years,” he
says.
For the past 20 years he’s also offered his house for StFX’s
Student Physics Society barbecues, held every Wednesday in the summer
for
students and faculty doing
research on campus. The barbecues are held alternately on the back
decks of
(StFX physics professor) Doug Hunter’s house and Dr. Steinitz’s
house.
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The bear was the award and, as you can see, has a prominent place in
my office, where
distressed
students can clutch him as needed.
He is holding a World Year of Physics official Coffee Mug and is
wearing his
"Ally" button.